Why Mexico Environmental Activists Fear for Their Lives Oscar Lopez - Newsweek
go to original March 31, 2017

The unsolved killing of Latin American eco-activists has left many frustrated (Newsweek)

Latin America is now the most dangerous place in the world for environmental activists, according to a 2016 report by Article 19, a British human rights group. More than 122 activists were killed in the region in 2015, one of the deadliest years on record, according to the most recent study from Global Witness, another nongovernmental organization.

Mexico has emerged as one of the most perilous countries in the region. Organized crime, state-sanctioned intimidation and near-total impunity have proved to be a hazardous and often deadly combination for the many activists trying to protect the country’s natural resources.

In January, Mexico’s Center for Environmental Rights (CEMDA) released a report that documented 63 attacks against environmental activists in 2015 and 2016. However, this only included cases reported on by the media or other NGOs, so the number could be much higher.

The high rate of human rights abuses in Mexico has drawn increasing international attention: Baldenegro was killed while U.N. Special Rapporteur Michel Frost was in Mexico investigating attacks against activists. Still, the renewed global focus on the activists’ plight doesn’t mean the violence has waned. Baldenegro had been awarded the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in 2005 for his campaign to protect Mexico’s ancient forests from illegal logging—the same work that led to his father’s murder 30 years ago.

His death came less than a year after the shooting death of Honduran activist Berta Cáceres, who received the Goldman prize in 2015. “It used to be that when you got to that level of awareness about your work, it gave you some measure of protection,” says Article 19’s David Banisar. “Now even that seems to be undermined. It’s a good indication that things are getting worse.”

Read the rest at Newsweek

Related: Indigenous Peoples Traditional Lands Guard 80 Per Cent of World's Biodiversity (Inter Press Service)

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